Burgess Hill Progress To The Sussex Senior Cup Final At The Amex Stadium With Victory Over Haywards Heath
28th February 2019 | By Peter Chapman
Burgess Hill Town Football Club have an end of season cup final to look forward to at the Amex Stadium following a dramatic victory over Haywards Heath Town at Culver Road, Lancing on Wednesday evening in the Sussex Senior Cup.
Photo by Chris Neal
The Hillians raced into a two-goal lead inside the first ten minutes thanks to Pat Harding (4) and Aidan Enver (10)
Haywards Heath hit back early in the second half through Callum Saunders (53) to reduce the deficit with the Blues then going on to put more pressure on the Hillians in search of an equaliser.
Burgess Hill had a great chance to restore their two goal advantage had it not been for Heath full-back Sean Roddy who was able to race back and pull off a perfect last-ditch tackle to deny Aaron Smith Joseph who was sent clear in the 59th minute.
The returning Jamie Weston almost leveled the game for Haywards Heath in the 85th minute when his looping free-fick stuck the frame of the goal.
The Hillians are used to drama in this year's competion - with two games abandoned due to floodlight failure, both times when trailing in the game - and tonight was no different, only this time, electrics weren't the issue, it was the weather!
Some fog had decended on the Culver Road pitch at half-time but cleared away when the players came back out following the interval. Throughout the second-half, fog clouds came and went, each time getting more dense.
With 15 minutes remaining, a sensational thick cloud had formed and was slowly making its way down to pitch level. With 5 minutes to go the fog touched down. The referee stopped the game, much to the complaints of the Burgess Hill players who understandably wanted to get the tie wrapped up.
Chris Neal's brilliantly atmospheric photo. It really was that foggy.
After a six minute wait, the referee decided to resume the game - a shocking decision to be fair as the end of the pitch where the Hillians fans were assmbled was still completely foggy. 90 second later and the referee stopped the game again when he realised that no one could see if players were offside in that half!!
The referee was having a laugh when he resumed the game!
The teams had to wait for another two minutes for the fog to clear before the final six minutes of game were completed without the scoreline being added to; although Haywards Heath goalkeeper Josh Heyburn did come up for a corner and connected with a header that was on target!
Photo by Chris Neal
It was a gripping game that had a bit of everything. Burgess Hill now go on to contest the final at the Amex Stadium (expected to be on Thursday May 9th) where they'll face either Bognor Regis Town or Brighton and Hove Albion's U23s.
Photo by Chris Neal - click here to see his full album from the game
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